Confused About Points? Let’s Get Started!

As students, our budgets are naturally limited–paying for rent, tuition, and having to study limits our income and can make travel seem like a far-fetched dream. That’s where points come in–while most debit card spend earns nothing, and cash back cards only earn a couple percent, points allow you to get massive return on your spend–5%, 10%, sometimes ridiculous amounts like 80% back on thousands of dollar spend. Points see their best redemption values for travel, so often paying common expenses like groceries, tuition or rent can be converted into points for your spend, racking up these points for a whole semester can lead to enough points to get you enough vacation once you’re on break!

Nothing! As long as you’re 18, you can start building your credit score immediately. Apply for a starter card and never spend more than you can pay off–treat it like a debit card. Just having a credit card open will allow you to build credit!

Once you have decent credit, you can start applying for travel cards and earning points on your spend. Welcome bonuses from giants like Capital One, American Express, and Chase can often have these jumpstart bonuses that offer thousands of dollars of value in year one, but if you’re afraid of annual fees, you don’t have to start there. There’s many cards offered from these major banks with no fees at all that still earn points, or don’t require big spend to meet the bonus–we’ll teach you all about the specifics of earning the points here, as well as how to redeem them.